Focus on India: Super-sized sweets and motorcycle yoga

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Our regular round-up of recent record-breaking achievements from the region.

We start this installment of our round-up of all things Indian and record-breaking on two-wheels and the remarkable story of Arcot Naga Raj.

The 36-year-old gave up his job as a senior estimator in the UAE to come back to his hometown Hyderabad and follow his dream of setting a cycling endurance world record last year.

Covering an astonishing 14,198 kilometers on a bicycle Arcot travelled through more than 900 villages, towns and cities in 19 states over the course of over four months to set a new world record for longest journey by bicycle in a single country.

It took Mr. Naga Raj over 762 riding hours (135 days in total), averaging 105 km (65.24 miles) per day to complete his adventure.

Speaking to the New India Express about why he took on the challenge of the trek, Arcot said: “Right from my teenage years, I wanted to travel alone on bicycle, but I got a job. Though the job was comfortable I wanted to do something more in life, something which makes me happy. So I quit in August 2012, came back to Hyderabad without a plan and in 15 days, figured out that bicycling was an option which allowed me a close look at places.”

“I went ahead and bought a bicycle, trained myself physically and mentally. I started this journey”.

He added: “I wanted to send a message to the world that Indians have high levels of physical endurance. I was asked to cover 2500 kilometers to claim the record. But I felt it would be easy for others to break it. And so, I covered more than 14,000 kilometers.”

Sticking with the two-wheeled theme, here’s Bharat Sinh Parmar and his rather spectacular set of wheels.

Taking the Guinness World Records title for longest motorcycle, you can watch Bharat take the 26.29 m (86 ft 3 in) bike out on the roads of Jamnagar City in the video below. Sadly the clip doesn’t show how well it handles corners.

Organised by Prestige Institute of Management and Research (India) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a huge crowd of 1,107 participants marched in the opposite direction back in February as part of the institute’s annual entrepreneurship week.

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The Lavasa Women's Drive, a regulation rally held on two separate courses between Mumbai and Lavasa, and Pune and Lavasa took place back in February – an event which set a new record for most female participants in a motor sports event with a total of 935 participants.

Organised by The Times of India and Lavasa Corporation Ltd, the event saw driver Hemal Yogesh Sawant and co-driver Meera Parmeshwaran Warrier finish the Mumbai - Lavasa route in first, while the winners of the Pune - Lavasa route were Anaheeta Sidwa and co-driver Latha Santosh. The drive is an annual affair held in the aid of women's cancer awareness.

Laddu are ball-shaped sweets popular in India, made from flour and sugar and a variety of other ingredients depending on the recipe.

Ratified by Guinness World Records earlier this year as weighing 7,132.87 kg (15,725 lb 4.64 oz), S. Venkateswara Rao, owner of Sri Bhaktanjaneya Sweets from Tapeswaram, Andhra Pradesh created this dentist’s nightmare - a super-size version of the treat which also featured ghee, candy rock chips, cashews, and almonds setting a record for largest laddu.

The practice of Yoga has its origins firmly entrenched in Indian tradition, so it was more than a little appropriate to see the record for largest yoga class - multi venue claimed earlier this year for an event that took place across large parts of the nation.

A record setting 62,824 participants took part in the successful attempt organised by Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade, President of Shanthivana Trust, which took place in 47 locations across Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts of Karnataka State.

We end this instalment of our round-up with anther incredible two-wheeled feat, this time from the extraordinary yoga practitioner and stuntman Abhayjit Mehlawat. If you thought holding a plank pose was difficult enough, then try performing one while on a moving motorbike.